Staple Recipes

Cook like a champion to fuel your Kenyan Summer

While the beauty of staples is that you don’t have to think about how to cook, you can also prepare them in myriad ways for those who crave variety. Here are some options for common staple ingredients:

Recipe: Bring the water and salt to a boil in a heavy saucepan. Stir in the cornmeal slowly, letting it fall though the fingers of your hand. Reduce heat to medium-low and continue stirring regularly, smashing any lumps with a wooden spoon, until the mush pulls away from the sides of the pot and becomes very thick, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool somewhat before serving. Can be eaten by hand, rolling ugali into a ball and using it to scoop up meat, stew, greens or vegetables. Balls of ugali can also be put in a bowl with stew spooned on and around them.

Directions: In a large nonstick skillet or medium-large pot, sauté onion in oil over medium heat until the onion is translucent. Add green leafy, tomatoes, ¼ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Cover and simmer for about 4–5 minutes. Then add peanut butter, peas, milk and the rest of the salt and pepper to desired taste. Gently mash on peas while combining. Serve over brown rice.

Directions: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Toss the vegetables with olive oil, salt and pepper. Spread the vegetables on a large cookie sheet to bake, occasionally stirring, for 45 min. – 1 hour or until vegetables are tender and slightly browned. If pinched for time, place chopped vegetables in large steamer with several tablespoons of water and microwave for 5 minutes. Then bake as suggested above for about 20 minutes.